1. Field of Inventions
The present inventions relate generally to systems for delivering drugs to ambulatory medical devices such as implantable drug pumps (IDPs).
2. Description of the Related Art
Known implantable drug pumps can be used to deliver several different types of drugs (e.g., to treat various types of pain and spasticity), with rates of delivery and units of these rates that often vary widely. Implantable drug pumps, especially for intrathecal delivery, can be used to deliver a diverse array of drugs of differing concentrations, which makes it difficult to put bounds on the allowable delivery rates. For example, because any one of a number of drugs of various concentrations can be used, it is problematic to limit the overall rate of the pump.
It would be helpful to be able to provide a drug delivery safety system that allows a programmer to put bounds on the allowable delivery rates for each drug. It would also be useful to be able to provide a drug delivery safety system that allows a programmer of an implantable drug pump to check a specified delivery rate to verify that it is within a safe limit. Additionally, it would be helpful to be able to provide safety features to implantable medical device programmers in order to limit the possibility that a clinician would program a harmful or uncomfortable therapeutic regimen.